August 24, 2014 - Mike agreed to take us to the airport. He arrived half and hour
early and we were ready too - Good timing. No problems with the flight and public
transportation was great. We purchased the ORCA card and had it preloaded with funds.
Would highly recommend this if using public transportation. Our AirBnB house was
within 3 blocks of several buses - very convenient. The apartment was all we needed
plus it had a delightful patio which we used on several occasions. I had made a
reservation for dinner at Anchovies and Olives. It was a 15 minute walk which was
very doable in hilly Seattle. Dinner was small plates of oysters, smoked fish, olives,
and for dessert I had cake and Gary had Amaro.

August 25, 2014 - We set the alarm for 6:45. We had tickets for the Space Needle
at 9am and decided to grab breakfast downtown. The bus driver recommended Mecca.
I have now traveled to Mecca however it wasn’t the holy city just a good place for
eggs and bacon. Gary & I were arguing about the time on my watch. I set it to our
travel alarm clock. I looked up at the restaurant clock and noticed it was just 7
o’clock. How could that be? Gary set the alarm just fine but we both forgot about
Pacific time. I can’t believe we were up at 5:45am ON VACATION!

The Space Needle was just OK. Nothing compares to the Sydney Tower and the view of
Sydney Harbor, AU. We then visited the Chihully Gardens.

Our late lunch was at the Pink Door, a recommendation from a guy at Mecca. We sat
outside, ordered a bottle of wine and had a glorious lunch. A great way to end the
day.

August 26, 2014 - Our second day was spent at the Harbor. We visited the Seattle
Aquarium in the morning, walked along the harbor to the water taxi at pier 50. The
water taxi took us to Alki or West Seattle. We had a late lunch at Salty’s - and
another bottle of wine to compliment our fish entree.

August 27, 2014 - Our tickets for the Underground Tour started at 9am so we get another
early start. It was fascinating to see how the citizens developed the city after
the fire that destroyed the city.

The basement in the picture was the main floor that flooded at high tide.

Retaining walls were built around each block. The only way to access the business
NOW in the basement was to climb down a ladder. Once the businesses built and opened
the second level, the city could cover up the ladder access area to become the new
street level.

I highly recommend this tour.

August 28, 2014 - Chinatown - after taking the tour of San Francisco’s Chinatown,
I was looking forward to a great tour. Sadly this city’s Chinatown is limited to
one street.

Not once did we get rained on - the weather was perfect for sightseeing. Hopefully
the weather will hold for our visit to the San Juan Island.

This is my favorite picture, a boat load of spheres! Be sure to see Gary’s pictures
in World Trip 2014 Photos.

We bought tickets for Ride of Ducks of Seattle. J.O. & Elaine said they had a great
time so we decided to give it a go. Our driver always had a hat to tie into the next
song he played. His jokes were corny but we had a good time.

We then walked to the Pike Place Market (where they throw the fish around). I was
disappointed. The items were over priced and the quality was average. The flowers
were the only items that were a bargain.